This invention relates to bottle carriers of the type fashioned from planar sheets of paperboard, the sheets having a plurality of openings for receiving respective bottles. Each bottle receiving opening has a plurality of radially outwardly extending fingers defined by cuts through the paperboard. In general, such carriers have been used largely for cans. Examples of constructions of this general type are shown in U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,834,750 issued to Gauntlett, 3,156,358 issued to Randrup, and 5,125,506 issued to Galbierz et al.
While planar paperboard bottle carriers have been widely employed for carrying cans, such as soft drink cans or the like, they have not been widely accepted for carrying plastic bottles having integral annular flanges around their necks. Generally, the annular flanges associated with bottles, or the screw caps on bottles, are so much larger in diameter than the diameter of the openings in the carrier that it is difficult to remove a bottle from its respective opening.
It is known from copending patent application Ser. No. 08/291,068 by Jonathan T. Beales et al, filed Aug. 17, 1994, and entitled "Paperboard Bottle Carrier", hereby incorporated by reference, that bottle removal from a paperboard carrier is facilitated by providing each of the radially extending fingers of each bottle opening with two parallel slits extending through the paperboard. One slit is termed the base slit and is located at the widest part or base of the finger and the other or intermediate slit is located about half way along the finger length. The slits are at right angles to the longitudinal axis of each finger. The base slit facilitates upward bending of each finger at its base, while the intermediate slit portion of each radial finger defines a frangible area which is relatively easily broken or fractured when a respective bottle is tilted and twisted and pulled downwardly to remove it from the carrier.